When you face a really hard trial of life, it’s hard to see how anything good could come out of it. Your mind is so fixated on surviving the pain of the present that you don’t think about it. And if the hardship lasts for months or years, you get into such a habit of thinking negative thoughts that it’s difficult to have positive ones.

We don’t know how these tragic times in our Christian lives work out for good, but God does. So it’s no surprise that Romans 8:28 is one of the most read Bible verses in our time (and perhaps in any age).

The outlook of this verse is not desperate hope. It is a promise from God Himself who knows the future and intervenes to bring good out of bad (and even the worst) situations. In this episode, we will see many encouraging stories in the Scriptures that illuminate this text and teach us not to lose hope.

Read about this subject

• Scripture: Romans 8:28; Genesis 45:5-8; Genesis 50:19-20; Philippians 1:12-18
• “Long, Hard Lessons of Life”

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• My God & My Neighbor, “Why, Lord? Series”

People today have a personal interest in the Bible because they want to know if God has a personal interest in them. They want to know if God has a plan for their life, a plan for their future.

Does God have a plan just for you? If He does, can we know what it is?

Jeremiah 29:11 is a popular verse today because in it God said He had “thought” or “plans” for His people. The real question is: What did He mean?

In this episode we will look at Scriptures that give direction and boundaries to the study of this verse. At that same, we will gain encouragement and hope.

Read about this subject

• Scripture: Jeremiah 29:11; Isaiah 55:8-9; Philemon 15
• “Bright Expectations”

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• America Through the Eyes of Isaiah Track 20: “The Hidden God”

This episode kicks off a new series on Bible verses that are Googled most. At the top of the list is John 3:16. Millions know it by heart. Countless sermons have been preached on it. This one verse contains many of the most important themes in the Bible: God, Christ, salvation, love, faith, salvation and the hereafter.

Yet the “Golden Text” of the Bible is one of the least understood. Church traditions have obscured the meaning of Jesus’ famous words and religions such as Judaism and Islam deny one of the foundational tenets of Christianity taught by it—the role of Jesus Christ in salvation. As a result, it remains little more than a tee shirt slogan or a tattoo for many.

This episode takes you step-by-step through the words of this rich passage of Scripture that is a promise of hope to a world in darkness.

Read about this subject

• Scripture: John 3:16; I John 4:9-10; John 1:1
• “Jesus and Nicodemus,” Annual Lesson Commentary, Fourth Quarter, 1949

Listen to more on this subject

• RENEW 2014 – “God’s Amazing Grace”